Actuator of an electrical starter

ABSTRACT

PCT No. PCT/FR78/00013 Sec. 371 Date Mar. 19, 1979 Sec. 102(e) Date Mar. 19, 1979 PCT Filed July 19, 1978 PCT Pub. No. WO79/00061 PCT Pub. Date Feb. 22, 1979 
     A lever for controlling the actuator of an electrical starter, for internal combustion engine, the connection between each friction block and the corresponding arm of a fork of the lever of the starter actuator being made by means of the ends of a single elastic stirrup member which is a part separate from said lever.

The present invention relates to improvements in the fixing of frictionbearing blocks of the actuator of an electrical starter with respect tothe ends of its control lever.

It is an object of the invention to produce a device ensuring a rapidand economical assembly of the blocks in question.

According to the invention, each of the arms of the fork of the levercontrolling the actuator of an electrical starter is with a frictionblock member by means of the end of a wire stirrup, which is retained bythe corresponding arm due to the tension exerted on this stirrup by hookmeans which are part of the lever.

The invention will be more readily understood on reading the followingdescription with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the different members constituting thelower part of the control lever of the actuator of an electricalstarter.

FIG. 2 is a partial view, on a smaller scale, of the nose of a startercomprising a device according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a transverse section thereof along III--III of FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the lower part of a lever 1intended to achieve the axial displacement of the actuator 2 (FIG. 2) ofan electrical starter with respect to a shaft 3 which carries thearmature of its electric drive motor. The end in question of the lever 1is made in the form of a fork of which the two arms 4, 5 are adapted tostraddle part of the actuator 2. In the example shown, the lever is madefrom a sheet metal blank folded so that the two arms 4, 5 are in theform of a flat section suitably bent to constitute two vertical parts4a, 5a connected to the body 1a of the lever by an oblique element 4b,5b. It will be noted that the end of each of the vertical parts 4a, 5ais provided with a notch 6 and 7, respectively, which is downwardlyopen.

As shown more particularly in FIG. 2, the oblique elements 4b, 5b are ofsuch shape that the parts 4a, 5a of the arms are offset with respect tothe body 1a of the lever. It will be noted that the arms 4 and 5 of thefork are conventionally engaged between a flange 8 and the axiallysliding wheel 9 of the actuator 2. The cooperation between the arms ofthe fork and the actuator is effected via friction pieces in the form ofparallelepipedic blocks 10 (FIG. 1) and which are made of a materialhaving a low coefficient of friction.

The blocks 10 are placed inside the vertical parts 4a, 5a of the arms 4and 5, in which position they are maintained according to the inventionvia a stirrup member 11 formed by means of a suitably shaped steel wire.

As shown in FIG. 3, the stirrup 11 takes the general shape of asemi-circle 11a comprising a body portion having parallel extensions11b, 11c each followed by a pivot portion 11d, 11e determining with saidextensions an angle of 90° so that the two pivots are aligned face toface.

As shown in the Figures, the sides of the body 1a of the lever 1 areeach provided with a horizontally oriented notches 12, 13 whichdetermine hooks 14, 15 respectively, slightly raised upwardly.

The pivots 11d, 11e of the stirrup 11 are intended to pass through thenotches 6, 7 respectively, to be engaged in a central perforation 10a ofeach block 10. The stirrup 11, having been positioned with its members11d and 11e in the notches 6 and 7 of the arms 4, 5 of the lever 1, isdeformed upwardly, pulling its pivot members against the inclined facesof each of the notches 6, 7 as the stirrup is clipped behind the hooks14, 15 by engaging it in the corresponding notches 12, 13. After finalpositioning of the stirrup, these pivot members 11d, 11e are of suchlength as not to project inwardly beyond the blocks 10 so that they donot come into contact with the surface of the actuator (FIGS. 2 and 3).

I claim:
 1. In an electrical starter for an internal combustion engine,the starter having a shaft supporting an axially slidable actuator, andhaving a lever forked to provide two arms straddling the actuator, andeach arm carrying a friction block disposed to contact the actuator todisplace it axially, an improved means for attaching the friction blocksto the arm wherein each block has a hole extending into it and orientednormal to the shaft, each block being located inside of an arm betweenthe arm and the actuator, and a wire stirrup member having two mutuallyaligned pivot portions comprising the ends of the wire and joined by acurved body portion, said arms each having an opening therethroughreceiving one of said end pivot portions which portions respectivelypass through the arms and into the holes in the blocks, and means on thelever to retain the body portion of the stirrup.
 2. In a starter asclaimed in claim 1, said aligned pivot portions being orientedperpendicularly to said arms, and the opening in each arm comprising anotch in the end of the arm opening away from the lever and away fromsaid means on the lever to retain the body portion of the stirrup.
 3. Ina starter as claimed in claim 2, said means to retain the body of thestirrup comprising hook means on the lever to receive and retain thebody portion of the stirrup.
 4. In a starter as claimed in claim 3, thehook means on the lever being spaced from said notches on the arms by adistance which is greater than the distance from the center of the bodyportion of the stirrup to its pivot portions, whereby the stirrup istensioned when held in said notches by said hook means.
 5. In a starteras claimed in claim 4, said hook means comprising two hooks projectingfrom the lever where each arm is joined thereto.